And suddenly, you've done it all
You won me over in no time at all
-Angels And Airwaves

Elena POV

There once was a time where I clung to the fact of knowing my future was going mean something. My mother told me that every breath we take, every move we make; matters. Every second of every day was leading up to one moment; one moment that defines us. Whether the moment breaks us and we go to our grave with overbearing regrets of what could have been or a moment that is all sense of the word magical. And in that one moment we know that everything is right. All our tears and our pain were worth it; life was worth it.

My mother told me this because she knew that days where the world felt suffocating I had to remember it was worth it. Walking down these hallways, putting a happy face on was one day going to be in the past and I was going to look back on it as the clay that formed the person that I turned out to be.

Somewhere along the way I found myself doubting my mother's words. As I stared down the long hallway filled with students waiting for their moments, I tried to find it in myself to remember that I was one of them. I was going to have a moment too, no matter how unrealistic it may feel.

I made my way through the crowded school hallways, making brief eye contact with some people but never long enough to be counted as friendly. The fake smiles and the "I'm okay's" were meaningless to most now. After awhile they didn't care anyway. The sympathetic gazes stopped long ago when it was clear that my tight smile was screaming at them all to stop. I didn't want their pity. In fact, sometimes I wanted them all to just go away. Every face I saw, every move I made, every word spoken and place I went were just constant reminders that things will never be the same.

I knocked lightly on the classroom door to Mr. Saltzman room, waiting for a response. It was only his first week teaching here and I could tell by the strained look on his face that it was stressful.

"Oh Elena, come in!" He stood up from his desk when noticing me, motioning for me to enter.

"You wanted to speak with me?" I sat in a chair across from his desk, waiting for an explanation.

"Yes," He said with a smile while sitting back down. "It's about Jeremy." The mentioning of my brother made me stiffen as I imagined all the things he could've done for me to be sitting here.

"First off, I just wanted to say, I am so sorry about your parents."

Three months ago my world stop turning. All it took was just one distraction before the car holding my parent's and I drifted off the bridge into the Mystic Falls River. I can still hear their screams.

"Thank you," I muttered. He was new.

He stared at me for a few seconds, as if taking my whole demander in, before continuing. "I understand how unimportant school work must seem right now. Fortunately for you, you seem to put a lot of effort into it lately but I can't say the same for your brother."

"Is he failing?"

"Yes, and I don't see how he can raise his grade enough to pass this class for the semester." I sighed while trying to think this through. This is not what he needed right now. "Considering the circumstances I'm willing to let Jeremy write a history report for extra credit and if he gets an A, I'll be able to pass him."

"Did you already talk to him about it?"

"Yes, but he seemed to blow me off. I thought maybe you could help push him a little. I looked through his past grades and it seems all he needs to do is put effort into it. He's really a bright student."

"He'll write the report. I'll make sure of it." I stood up, thanking him while exiting the room, making my way through the building. When passing the hallway I knew my brother's locker was at, I searched for him through the crowd of people but came back empty.

I then took all the people in, going about their day.

I hated them all, for no reason but the fact that I was jealous of them. It was a superficial hate, really. A hate that I knew deep down didn't really exist

It was just that I'd give anything to have my biggest problem being whether or not the next football game will be cancelled from the rain and if I'll get to cheer. I just wanted to smack some common sense into the people that complained and whined over the silliest things and show them how good they have it.

"God, he's so hot!" The girl a few lockers down from me caught my attention when she squealed to her friend. I followed her gaze and only rolled my eyes when I saw him walking our way. Damon Salvatore has always caught the attention of anyone in the room. When he walked down the hallways he made girls do a double take and guys rage with jealously when their girlfriends suddenly weren't paying attention to them anymore. If there was any one person I hated most; it was him. Former childhood best friend turned asshole the moment he reached high school. He grew a foot, put on a few pounds of muscle and suddenly everything changed. It was like he just forgot about me.

We met when his parents bought the house next to mine. He was a year older than me and his brother was around my age. One day we just all hung out and never stopped. That is until I reached my last year of middle school. He hasn't uttered a single word to me since. Even though we ran in the same crowds once upon a time it was like I was a remembrance of his past that he didn't want. His looks and popularity went to his head. I was the only girl in Mystic Falls who didn't think he walked on water.

"Elena! Elena!" I saw a hand wave in front of my face and heard a high voice snap me out of my thoughts. "I know he's easy to daydream about but you're in my way."

The snappy voice of one of my best friends, Caroline, tore my gaze away from Damon. Things have been rocky between us since my parent's death. She took my distancing form the world personal and never really understood. She was still desperately waiting for the old Elena who would do keg stands and flirt with the entire male student body to come back.

"Sorry," I moved out of the way and watched her open her locker. She flipped her blonde locks over her shoulder and glanced at me.

"So, Elena, are you ever going to come back to us?" She said with curiosity that she must believe was harmless.

"What are you talking about?"

"The cheerleading squad, you know since I'm captain now I can always find a place for you again. Obviously you're not as in shape anymore so you'd have to work really hard."

"I thought the new girl Katherine took my place?" I said with as much effort as I could. I would never say the things I was thinking to her face. Those thoughts will just have to remain written in my journal.

"She's not as cheerful as you may think. Besides, former captain, you've worked hard for this since you were in middle school. I'd hate for you to throw it all away for no reason."

No reason.

"I think I'm going to pass this year. Thanks though," I added with a smile that I knew didn't come off as genuine as it used to be. I knew she came from a good place but she didn't know what she was talking about.

"Well, I'm sure one day you'll be begging to come back; especially when you see how awesome we are getting."

When the final bell of the day finally rang, I was, to say the least, relieved. I walked through the courtyard heading towards my car, unconsciously listening to the chatter around me. Everyone talked about some huge party that what seemed like the whole school was going to, except for me of course.

"There you are!" I heard Jeremy exclaim, standing by my car. "I've been waiting for ten minutes!"

"Sorry, I've been talking with your teacher," I said while unlocking the door and getting in.

"What do you mean you've been talking to my teacher? Which one? What about?" He asked frantically while shutting the car door.

"Mr. Saltzman."

"Oh," he mumbled, already knowing what it was about.

"You're failing history? That used to be your favorite subject."

"Your point is?"

"My point is that this is not you. How long is it going to take before you realize that these second chances aren't given out on a regular basis? Mom and dad wanted-"

"Don't you dare go there!" He yelled, cutting me off.

"No, I am not going to be like everyone else and coddle you. Obviously that is not working by the way you're acting out."

"I'm not acting out!"

"Jeremy you reek of pot, you wake up hungover and now your grades are slipping. You are going to stay home and write that report tonight."

"What? No, there's this party tonight and I'm going."

"There's always going to be a party! This is important and you are not going anywhere."

After a few minutes of awkward silence he finally spat out "What makes you think you can do this?"

"I care about you. I want better for you."

"You just want me to be as anti-social as you," he accused, adding a few digs in there.

"Yea, that's exactly what I want," I said sarcastically as I pulled into our driveway.

"Apparently!" He yelled while slamming the car door .I followed him into the house, doing my best to block him out. I always knew the hurtful words came out whenever he was pushed. "Why don't you stop being such a hypocrite. If you think mom and dad would have been disappointed in me, why don't you take a look in the mirror!"

"Jeremy, I cannot do this right now."

"Why? Are you mad I'm making you face the truth? It's true, you know mom loved to watch you cheer at the football games, how badly she wanted you to follow in her footsteps and become Miss Mystic Falls. Do you think they'd be happy to see how you just seemed to stop caring about everything?"

"Screw you, Jeremy." I whispered while heading up the stairs leaving him behind. I should have known that this was the last thing I should've brought up. I didn't want to fight like this anymore. It was becoming too much to bear lately.

I tossed my backpack onto the floor and flopped down on my bed. Eying the pamphlet on my side table, I picked it up and looked over the information for the beauty pageant. Maybe this was something I needed to think about.

Thinking about it for a moment, I shook my head as I threw it into the trash bin on the other side of the room.

"There, I thought about it," I said to myself, feeling a little more yet less guilty about it.

I only had my eyes closed for a few seconds before I heard yelling again. At first I immediately thought it was Jeremy, ready for round two, but instead it was a female's voice coming in through my window.

I went over to the window to see Damon getting yelled at in his bedroom by someone I couldn't see. I realized I was eavesdropping but listening to someone else's issues was somehow therapeutic.

"I don't care what you say! I know the truth. I should have known better!"

"For the last time, I didn't cheat on you." His words weren't filled with anger or desperation to set the truth right. In fact, he seemed bored with the situation. "You're delusional, Rose."

Rose: Damon's girlfriend… for the week. I guess she came to her senses and wasn't as stupid as I originally thought. I could see what Damon saw in her, she was very pretty. But he thought a lot of girls were pretty.

"The problem is I don't believe you! I see the way you look at all those other girls! I am done. We are over." I always loved it when a girl showed they knew their self-worth.

She stormed out of the room before another word could be spoken. It didn't look like Damon was going to chase after her so I knew the show was over. I went to close the window but before I had it completely closed Damon turned and caught my eye. It was like everything stopped for a moment as we held each others gaze before I snapped back into reality.

A moment later the window was shut and the brief almost nonexistent eye contact we had was over.

I went back to bed, throwing myself on it. I now had a pounding headache that didn't seem to be going away anytime soon. I closed my eyes, suddenly feeling the day take its toll on me.

I could tell as I opened my eyes that I wasn't out for long but long enough because it was now dark out. The house was slightly shaking and I sat up in alarm. My heart started to calm down when I realized it was only a loud bass that had the house rattling.

Running to my window, I looked out to see the party everyone was talking about was going on next door. It looked like my whole school was there. I swear if anyone pukes on my lawn…

Jeremy.

Forgetting about the party, I rushed out of the room and down the hall towards Jeremy's room. I knocked on the door a few times with no answer before I went in. I found his light on near his computer but he was nowhere to be found.

I checked the bathroom, the kitchen, the living room, even the basement but I knew the moment I saw the party was next door where he was. Putting on my shoes, I marched out the door heading towards the Salvatore's. I walked past the beer bottles and plastic cups that wandered onto my yard, which on any other occasion would've driven me crazy.

I walked straight into the house. There were already too many people here to bother with a doorbell. I saw a few people's eyes bug out at the sight of me as I pushed through the crowd.

"Jeremy!" I called over the loud music. I headed towards the stairs so I could get a better view from a higher angle.

"Elena?" I heard Caroline gasp before I saw her come down the stairs. "What are you doing here?"

"Have you seen Jeremy?"

"Actually yea, I just saw him in the kitchen."

"Thank you!" I went to rush past her but she caught my arm.

"Wait, why don't you come have a drink with a few of us? Like old times." The look in her eyes made me pause. They were so pleading. Some days I believed she took my distancing from the outside world as personal. I never wanted that.

"One drink," I agreed, "but then I have to find Jeremy."

She grinned while grabbing my hand and dragging me over to a table filled with red plastic cups.

"Here." She handed me a drink and looked at me expectantly. "Try it. It's my concoction."

"Is it spiked lemonade?" I asked after taking a sip of the fruity drink..

After blinking a few times, she mumbled "sure", making me a bit nervous as to what I was drinking.

"So,' she started off with an accusing look. "I signed up for the Miss Mystic Falls beauty pageant today."

"That's nice," I took a long swig of the drink, trying to avoid her gaze. I already knew where this was going.

"And guess whose name was not on the list?"

"Who?" I asked just to humor her.

"Elena let's not play stupid. Why haven't you signed up?"

"I haven't gone to a founding family event since my parents… maybe I'm just scared it will be a disaster." The thought of my parents made a familiar lump in my throat appear and I desperately tried to focus on anything unrelated to the subject.

"It won't be a disaster. I will there for you. Bonnie will be there for you too. That's what friends are for. We both know how bad your mother wanted you-"

"Please don't. I can't, not right now. Can you just help me find Jeremy?" I quickly finished the drink off and set the cup down on the table while starting to search the room for my brother.

"Sure," she mumbled, immediately shutting down. "Is that him going up the stairs with Vickie?"

"Jeremy!" I called, pushing through people as I went for the stairs.

"Elena?" He gasped when seeing me. "What are you doing here?"

"That's what I should be asking you!"

"I'm hanging with friends. I told you I was coming."

"We are leaving now!"

"No way, I practically just got here." He turned from me and continued to go up the stairs with Vickie in hand.

"Jeremy!" I yelled after him while following up the stairs and through the hallway. "Do you really want to do this here, of all places?"

"Do what?" He screamed turning around which made a few people in the hallway go silent. "Fight with you? Tell you to back off and leave me alone?"

"I just want what's best for you!"

"Stop acting like you have any say what goes on in my life! You are not mom and dad. They're dead and I'm not going to pretend otherwise." I flinched at his words and took a step back in shock. Speechless, I stared back at him, wondering how we ever got to this place. His words seemed to surprise himself when his anger faded for a moment.

I didn't have any time to register what was happening before I heard someone open a door and thin yet strong arms were shoving me through it.

"What the hell?" I screamed as Vickie slammed the door closed before me. I heard a ruckus behind the door and when I went to open it, the door wouldn't budge. I remembered as a kid that these had deadbolts on the outside of them and the panic began to set in.

"Let me out!" I yelled over and over again while banging on the door.

"Now that that's taken care of…" I heard Vickie say and a few laughs ensued.

I continued to beat against the door, hoping to catch the attention of someone new passing by. I doubted anyone who witnessed what happened didn't really want to mess with family issues.

I banged on the door for few seconds before tiring out and collapsing against it. All the stress, the memories and constant pain started to take its toll. Only a few sobs escaped before true anger set in.

"What kind of door has locks on the outside?" I asked to no one

"It's an old house, what do you expect?" A shriek escaped before I had any control when realizing I was not alone in the dark room.

"Whose there?" I asked into the darkness when silence followed I got up onto my feet and started to feel my way around. "Can you turn a light on?"

"Nope," I heard the male voice again coming about ten feet away from where I was standing.

"Any why not?" I snapped. I wasn't in the mood for this.

"Too many lights are on in the house. The breaker went out in here. I was going to fix it but I just had to take advantage of an empty room for a moment."

"Why would you be fixing it?"

"It's kind of logical because it's my house."

"Stefan?"

"Guess again." Oh god. I went back to the door and started banging on it again. I was not going to be stuck in a room with Damon Salvatore. "Help! Someone get me out of here!"

"Don't you think if they didn't come the first time they wouldn't come now?"

"How can you be so calm? We are locked in here."

"Someone will come and find me eventually. I'm too important to go missing for long." I groaned in disgust as I went back to trying to catch someone's attention. After a few minutes I stopped and by the silence I assumed he was amused. "Giving up so soon?"

"Do you have a phone or something?"

"Yes." Thank God. "But not with me."

"Listen, I'm glad you have all the time in the world to just sit around and be calm I need to get out of here."

"Why? Today's you're lucky day. Do you know how many girls would kill to be locked in a room with me?"

"Well I'm not one of them. To be quite honest you disgust me."

"Watch what you say. Do you know who I am? I could ruin you at this school."

"Sorry. It's the alcohol. I say thing without thinking." After a long moment of silence I changed my mind. "Actually no, I take that back. I'm not sorry. I'm so tired of pretending and keeping myself in check. You're an asshole. If you want to ruin me then go ahead, I dare you. All you'll be doing is proving me right about how much of a dick you are!"

"What did I ever do to you?" He asked and I gave a humorless chuckle.

"I've heard stories about you. I know how you treat women. It's wrong. One day when you finally grow up you're going to look back and realize that this is not okay. What you do and say is not okay." I was taking everything that has been stressing me out on him and to be honest it felt good. For years I've wanted to say this stuff to him. "You only think of yourself."

The silence after my words continued and I worried if maybe I went a little overboard.

"No ones ever said that to me."

"Well maybe it's about time someone did."

"What makes you think you're better than me?"

"I never said that," I sighed and sat back down against the door. It was probably a mistake to start a fight with someone I was stuck in a room with. "I'm far from perfect. All I've been doing is making mistakes lately." My thoughts drifted towards Jeremy. I wasn't helping anything, in fact, I was pushing him away. He's all I have left and I'm losing him.

A few minutes went by before one of us spoke again. "Have you ever thought that everything you've done, everything you're doing is pointless? That you have no control over your life?" I whispered into the darkness.

"Everyday."

"I just want things to go back to normal. I'm tired of being so…heartbroken."

"Did some asshole rip your heart out?" He asked, and surprisingly I found genuine concern in his voice.

"No," I whispered, "but I stopped putting effort into life a long time ago. I feel pretty heartless right about now."

"I get it; I get how things that were important suddenly just stop mattering."

"You do?" For the life of me I couldn't figure out where this was coming from.

"Somehow popularity, women, and all the booze in the world can't replace a part of you that's missing; the part that's dying inside you."

"Why are you up here all alone?" Maybe he got life a little more than I had predicted; maybe he got me a little more than I predicted.

"These parties can get a little suffocating at times."

"It's about all those people talking about you and rose, isn't it?"

"It would be nice to just have one person in this world that trusted me for more than five seconds. Someone who actually believed in me."

"Damon…" I asked after a moment of silence. "Are you lonely?" He didn't dare to respond and I feared maybe I pushed him too far. He was desperate for someone to just listen to him for a few moments. I understood. "It's okay to admit it. I've been drowning in it."

"What do you mean?" His voice had gotten closer but I still couldn't pin point exactly where in the dark room he was.

"I'm pushing away the last people I have left and I don't know how to stop. I'm trying but… one of them locked me in here with you. Clearly it's not working." I laughed a little while wiping the stray tears that fell over. "I know what it's like for suddenly the loneliness to become so overwhelming that it feels like you're suffocating and anyone in the world who once understood everything you were about, looks at you like you're a stranger. And suddenly nothing matters anymore."

"What happened to you?"

"I lost everything I cared about and I have no one to blame but myself," I choked on the last words, never being so honest in my life before. "What about you?"

"I let myself think it was okay to not be happy anymore."

"We both seem pretty messed up."

"Who are you anyways?"

"You don't recognize my voice?" I asked in shock.

"No, should I?"

"I guess not. You haven't spoken to me in-"

"Are you the new girl?" He cut me of before I could finish.

"No."

"Too bad, she's hot."

"Of course you would say that."

"Who are you?" He asked again and I couldn't help but love having the upper hand.

"You don't really know me." It was the closest thing to the truth. He stopped knowing me years ago. "We aren't friends."

"Well I'd hope not. It would suck if one of my friends thought I was that shitty of a person."

"That'd be impossible. Everyone thinks you're perfect."

"Except for you." His voice was closer than before and I heard it coming towards me. He sat down next to me, leaning against the door with his thigh barely touching mine.

"I'm not easily impressed."

"What can I do to impress you?" After a long moment of silence I finally came up with an answer.

"Tell me the truth. Did you cheat on Rose like everyone is saying you did?"

"Does it even matter? You probably wouldn't even believe me if I said I didn't."

"I would. You've been strangely honest; I doubt you would start lying now."

"No, I didn't."

"I believe you. Why did she think you cheated on her?"

"Rose and I were never meant for each other. That relationship got boring awfully fast."

"Is that why you go through so many girls? You get bored."

"I haven't found the right girl to challenge me. But now you're starting to make me wonder."

"I'm not going to flirt with you. I'm not like those other girls."

"Those other girls bore me."

"Good because that's what you deserve."

"How about just for tonight you let me change your mind."

"You won't be able to change my mind."

"I like your stubbornness but let's be honest, give me an hour and I'll have you thinking differently."

"What makes you think that?" I asked towards his direction.

"Because usually when you're in a room with someone you hate you want them as far away from you as possible. And here we are."

"I never said I hated you."

"If I remember your exact words were "you disgust me."

"Maybe your actions disgust me. It seems like deep down they disgust you too."

After about another hour of light banter and a few jokes, the waiting for someone to come was feeling hopeless.

"Would you rather be missing finger or have an extra toe?"

"How do you come up with these?" I laughed while thinking over my answer. "Extra toe. Say goodbye to flip flops forever."

"Okay, your turn."

"Would you rather go to a nude beach or-"

"You so want to see me naked."

"That's not what I was getting at, I swear!"

"Just admit it; you want my body."

"Yea, that it," I said sarcastically while shoving his shoulder. "Now as I was saying would you rather go to-"

"We should make out."

"Excuse me?"

"We've been sitting here for two hours now. Why don't we do something more fun than would you rather to pass the time? I bet you'd like it."

"I'd rather eat dirt."

"There's something about your obvious dislike for that turns me on."

"You just want what you can't have."

"Maybe that's it… or maybe I just like your strong personality. It's sexy."

"Nothing will ever happen between us." I whispered. Even though I couldn't see him, I could feel that he was still close to me.

"You probably couldn't keep up with me anyways. It's a good thing nothing will ever happen between us."

"Was that a challenge?"

"No just a true statement. I bet there is nothing you could do that could surprise me."

"Good, I don't want to be surprising you."

"Yes you do. All girls want is to make a guy think there's something special about them."

"I don't want you thinking anything about me."

"That's a lie. You probably want me to like you the way I act like I like all those other girls."

"I would hate for you to treat me like those girls."

"Fine then, give me one kiss to prove it to me that you won't like it."

"No way in hell." I spat at him.

"What, are you scared you will?" He was taunting me and I was beginning to feel out of control. "Go ahead, surprise me."

Without thinking of my actions I felt my way through the darkness and somehow landed my lips onto his. He instantly kissed me back, clearly expecting me to fall right into his trap. I immediately stopped kissing him when I felt his tongue sweep across my lower lip.

"See, that was gross. I hated it." I lied while dramatically whipping off my mouth. Even though he couldn't see it, I felt like I made my point.

"You taste like cherries," he whispered. His cocky and antagonizing tone was no longer present. "We should do that again."

"That was a one time thing."

"Why not, this could be our moment." His words immediately put the wall up that he somehow kicked down during the last few hours. He did not get to mention those words.

"We need to find our way out of here," I said almost robotically.

"I don't think being trapped in here is that bad anymore."

"I need to get out of here," and away from you; before I do something even more stupid. "What room are we in?" I asked while standing up. After sitting for so long I had to get used to standing again.

"We're in my room."

"Really?" I asked somewhat shocked. I ran over to the window, flying it open. The moon was barely visible, which made for little natural light. I looked over through the tree branched to see a light on in room.

"Maybe we can get my neighbors attention." I jumped a little when Damon was suddenly right behind me. "She's always in her room."

"Do you spy on her?" I laughed a little at the irony of this.

"It's hard not to notice someone who lives in a glass bubble right next to you."

"That's creepy." I said while jumping up onto the frame of the window.

"What are you doing?" He asked as I grabbed a hold of the tree branch.

"Escaping." I climbed fully onto the branch outside the window.

"Are you sure that's safe?"

"Trust me, after doing years of gymnastics and cheerleading, I'm fully capable of getting down this tree." There were a few other branches that were easy to climb down but they ended about ten feet from the ground.

"Be careful." I crouched down and slightly hung from the last branch before dropping and hitting the ground. I landed on my feet and could feel the impact on my ankles. "You okay?"

"Yea, I'm fine. I'll call for someone to get you," I yelled up towards him. I could barely see his silhouette leaning out the window.

"Wait!" He yelled as I turned away from him. "You never told me who you are!"

"It's better this way Damon. You and I can pretend like tonight never happened."

"I don't want that."

"I'm sorry," I said before turning around and running off into darkness, doing everything I could to not listen to his pleas to come back.

Tonight was going to have to be forgotten.

AN: Thanks for reading! What'd you think?:)